


Circuits

by JBouken



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon - Fandom
Genre: Just some friendship stuff..., Pocket Monsters | Pokemon Journeys: The Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29183385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JBouken/pseuds/JBouken
Summary: Things between Goh and Chloe were fine, until Ash arrived and changed the whole dynamic. A silly argument between old friends leads them to rediscovering why they became friends in the first place, with a little help from Ash the Wise.Friendship fic for the Journey's trio. No shippy stuff, not even if you squint.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61





	1. I Know Something You'll Like, Trust Me

Chloe winced when Ash tripped over thin air and tumbled down the road. His knees scraped against the asphalt, leaving a pair of bloody patches when the skin should have been. Her own knees stung just looking at them. How often had he done that since she'd met him? Three times now? Four?

She would ask if he was okay and offer to escort him back to lab for treatment, but it was never necessary with Ash. No matter how many times he hurt himself during an excited fit, or how often he came off second best in playful scrap with his Pokemon, he always got right back up again, as if he hadn't been hurt at all.

Goh had plenty of stories to share about that. He once told her how Ash hurt himself on a daily basis, whether it was being electrocuted by Pikachu, or getting caught in the middle of Riolu's fist and Farfetch'd's leak (the mishap always involved Pokemon in some way, it seemed). Every time, he smiled away the pain and leapt back into the fray as if nothing happened. Goh had been convinced Ash was indestructible.

True to form, Ash picked himself up off the floor and blasted off once again, Pikachu clinging to his shoulder.

Goh appeared at her side, hands buried in his pockets. “There's an event down at the docks. Something to do with battling,” he said. “It's supposed to be for little kids only, but he didn't care. As soon as he heard the word 'battle', he was off.”

There was amusement in his voice, and he smiled as if he was talking about a close friend he had known for decades instead of months. She rolled her eyes. Of course it had something to do with Pokemon. She really should have known.

“You're not going with him?”

She thought it was a fair question. Ash and Goh were practically inseparable these days. She hardly saw them apart from one another.

“Not today. I'm gonna go out onto Route 5. Some new Pokemon have been spotted there, so I can't wait around. Wanna come with me?”

His eyes sparkled. They'd be doing that more often lately, she realised. Ever since Ash appeared in his life and took him on whatever adventure he felt like.

“I can't. I have to go to school.” She adjusted the straps of her school bag. “You should really come more often. The teachers have stopped giving me homework to take home for you. I think they're giving up.”

She recalled one teacher telling her: 'What's the point of giving him homework when he's never going to turn it in?' Then they had sighed like a disappointed parent. 'I hope he's getting a good education, whatever it is he's doing.' Even if the teachers were giving up, she still saw it as her role to convince Goh to come, and not just for his own sake. All those days of badgering him had to pay off eventually, otherwise what the heck had she been wasting her time for?

He fiddled with his Rotom Phone, having not heard a single word she said. She heard him muttering about which Pokemon he needed to catch and how many Pokeballs he would need under his breath. She had to hand it to him – he was at least thorough in his attempts to catch every single Pokemon on the planet. Now if only he applied such commitment to his school work...

Goh looked up from fiddling and met her gaze. He smiled like a salesman about to make his best pitch. “You should seriously come with us one day. You'll love it. Trust me.”

His words were laced with honey and easily ignored as just typical Goh propaganda, but his eyes glowed with a conviction she wasn't accustomed to seeing in them.

She pulled her gaze away and shuffled her feet on the spot. “I'll think about it, okay?”

“Yeah, you should. I'll even talk to Ash about it, see if he's got any ideas. I bet we could come up with something really fun together.” Goh pocketed his Rotom Phone and set off down the road with a wave. “I'll see you later!”

She stared after him, and thought to say, “Don't stay out too late!”, but he was long gone. She sighed, willing the familiar pang of irritation to float away into the morning sky, and trudged her way to school.

 _Those guys better not come up with anything too crazy_. The thought started out as a threat, but the more it played in her mind, the more concerned she became, until she couldn't stop thinking about it. Throughout the entire school day, she fretted about what weird and wonderful scheme Ash and Go would conjure, and how she should have told Goh that school came first, and how it couldn't be anything weird, or dangerous. Then she remembered the boys' recent attempts at finding a rare Pokemon in the wild, and how they both came back sopping wet, shivering, and without any clothes on except their boxer shorts. “It didn't go to plan,” Goh explained to her through chattering teeth. _Who am I trying to kid?_

Goh's words replayed in her head. “You'll love it. Trust me.”

She buried herself in her textbook, her lips pulled tight in a bitter line. People seemed to really like telling her what she'll love doing, as if they knew her better than she knew herself. 


	2. The Ketchums Know Too Much

When Chloe came home from school, she usually headed straight to the lab's kitchen and grabbed a chilled can of berry juice. The trek up the hill on a warm day could be hard work, but the prospect of a cold drink to quench her thirst gave her the motivation to push on. Assuming, of course, her dad remembered to re-stock the fridge. He tended to forget, especially when he and his assistants spent the whole day cooped up in a room engrossed in their latest project. Nagging him never seemed to have the desired effect. 

Fortunately, Mimey ensured the kitchen was never short on vital supplies, including her favourite drink. The Psychic-type was a life saver, since it was the only being in the building besides herself willing to do housework. It was good at it, too. Ms. Ketchum must have been a domestic expert. If only she had taught it to stop trying to teach her kung-fu every morning. 

Chloe entered the lab and made her way straight to the kitchen. Ash was leaning against the counter besides the fridge, regaling Mimey with tales of his latest adventure. She expected Pikachu to be nearby, but was surprised to find him elsewhere. Probably in the greenhouse with the other Pokemon, she reasoned. 

Mimey listened like a patient parent while keeping a practiced distance from Ash's wild gesticulations. It made for an excellent listener, nodding at all the right moments and letting Ash get as excited as he wished. How much it actually understood was anyone's guess. The language barrier was one thing, but Ash spoke so fast Chloe herself would have a hard time understanding. 

Ideally, Chloe would sneak in, grab a drink, and scurry away to a quiet room upstairs, but Ash's presence besides the fridge made that impossible. Entering the kitchen would undoubtedly start a conversation with Ash, who had far too much energy for her to cope with. Her throat itched, eager for fruity refreshment, but she would have to go thirsty for now. 

She tip-toed past the door, going as fast as she could without disturbing the laminate flooring. She reached the other side and sighed in relief, right before one of her socks got too carried away and slipped. Her front leg went one way, her back leg another, and she found herself clutching the door frame to hold herself up. She peered into the kitchen, mortified at the prospect of Ash seeing her undesired attempt at the splits, but couldn't see him there. _Where'd he go? Did he disappear in the fridge or something? He does like eating a lot..._

His face appeared in front of hers. “What's up, Chloe?”

Her legs snapped together as she corrected her posture. She wished her jaw would do the same, rather than gape like a startled Magikarp, like it was currently. “N-nothing. I just got back.”

He leaned in closer and inspected her face. She tilted her head and upper body away, in the universal way that said: please stay away from me. He didn't get the message. 

“You sure?” he said, squinting. “You looked like something was bothering you this morning.”

“You noticed?” she said. She sounded more surprised than she intended. 

Ash tilted his head to one side. If her surprise offended him, he showed no sign of it whatsoever. She wasn't even sure he was capable of such an emotion, since his world seemed nothing but exciting adventures. “Yeah. Why wouldn't I notice?”

Because you tore out of here like a hyperactive Togedemaru without even saying 'good morning'. Not that he had to tell her good morning or anything, but manners were a thing. As was keeping her mouth shut so she wouldn't insult her childhood friend's new best friend. “Forget about it. It's nothing.”

She did her best to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. Ash folded his arms and made a noise like he was trying to solve a really difficult puzzle. 

“If you say so,” he said and re-entered the kitchen. “Wanna drink?”

“Huh? Yeah, sure.”

The next thing she saw was Ash lobbing a can in her direction. She fumbled it in her hands a few times until it settled into her palms. It was a can of berry juice, the type that was a touch on the bitter side, but had an underlying sweetness that powered through and lingered on the tongue. Her favourite, it so happened. Did he know that?

He read her mind. “You have it all the time when you come back from school.”

Now she thought about it, the answer was really obvious. She hid her embarrassment behind a quiet “thanks” and popped the can open. 

Ash smiled, having done his good deed for the day, and hovered around the kitchen. He kept on hovering, even as she enjoyed her drink. He shuffled his weight from one foot, to the other, then back again. She noticed the band-aids on knees. 

“How was your... battle thingy?” she asked, thinking it was only polite.

“It was great! It sucked I couldn't do any battling myself, but it was fun watching all the little kids get a taste of what battling is all about. I bet they'll grow up to be strong trainers! Then I can battle them!”

A grin exploded all over his face. He punctuated his declaration with a firm punch of the air. He really looked ready to burst out of the lab and track down the nearest trainer he could find. Heck, if she wasn't careful, he might end up challenging her to a battle. Still, it'd be rude to blow him off while he was so excited. Maybe she could distract him with a difficult question. 

“Is battling really that fun?”

She winced. Of all the questions she could have asked...

“Of course!” he said, leaning forward again. “The moves go whoosh and bam and I get this tingly feeling all over. I feel so amped up, like I could do anything. It feels even better when I'm up against a really strong opponent who can push us all the way!”

His mouth went about a hundred words per second. She barely heard anything he said, nevermind comprehend any of it. 

“Know what I think?” he continued, putting his hands behind his head. His grin dropped to a wistful smile. “You can learn so much about yourself and other people through battles. Winning is great, and there aren't many feelings like it, but the battle itself is really worthwhile. Just you and your opponent, giving their all, showing the results of all their hard work and training, the bond between them and their Pokemon... it's really vin- vinda- what's the word...?”

“Vindicating,” she finished for him.

He snapped his fingers. “Vindicating! That's it. It's really vindicating.”

She stared at him for a good few seconds, and then blinked a few times to confirm once and for all it was indeed Ash Ketchum she was talking to and not some other boy Goh had brought home. He spent half his time at the lab obsessing over Pokemon and the other half hoovering food as quick as he could so he could get back to his Pokemon obsession. It shamed her for thinking it, but he came across as the sort of guy who never thought much about anything and lived on instinct. If Goh's stories were anything to go by – and by goodness, there was a lot of them – Ash was a Grade A moron; someone who would willingly fling themselves into an electrocuted net just to teach a Dragonair he found how to fly, then somehow get up and walk it off like nothing happened. No wonder a pair of scraped knees did nothing to slow him down. 

Still, there he was, dispensing wisdom and sounding mighty convincing while doing it, too. He spoke with the conviction of someone who had been there, done that, and got the trophies to prove it. If his goal was to get her into battling, he almost succeeded. 

Almost. 

Besides Yamper, who was really just a house pet at best, she had no Pokemon to call her own. She supposed she could get one of the Kanto starter Pokemon from her dad, if she really wanted to, but something about getting a leg-up from family didn't sit right with her. If people thought she was going to follow in her father's footsteps someday, just wait until they got a whiff of her going on a journey with a Pokemon he gave her. 

An aggressive yapping filled the hallway. Goh came barrelling down, shoes pounding against the flooring in an uneven rhythm. Yamper followed behind him, hot on his heels, fur charged with electricity and standing on end. Goh came to a screeching halt in front of her, likely thinking Yamper wouldn't attack him in front of its owner. 

“Chloe! Control your pet!” he said. 

She folded her arms over her uniform. “What did you do?”

“Nothing! I was just coming back from catching Pokemon – got a whole bunch, by the way – when it just jumped me!”

A likely story, if there ever was one. “I bet you came back in a hurry and scared him.”

He looked away. She was right on the money. “I, uh, no--” Yamper barked at him, teeth crackling. “Come on, Ash. Let's get out of here!”

Ash smiled obliviously. “Sure. Where to?”

“Anywhere. Doesn't matter. As long as we don't get electrocuted.”

“Being electrocuted isn't that bad though.”

Goh shook his head at him. “You're insane. Now let's go.”

He grabbed Ash by the wrist and pulled him out of the kitchen. Ash put a hand to his hand to stop it flying off and shrugged at Chloe as he went past her. Yamper made to pursue them.

“Yamper,” she called to it. It stopped and look at her with wide eyes while panting with its tongue out. The very picture of innocence. “I know the boys can be annoying sometimes, but you don't have to go after them every time they come home.”

It tilted its head, not understanding, so she amended her instructions a little. “Only do it when they're being really annoying, all right?”

Its head went to the other side. “Wasn't that all the time?” it seemed to be asking. 

She sighed. “Nevermind. Let's just go upstairs.”

Ash and Goh wouldn't be there, so it'd be quiet. If there were going anywhere, it'd certainly be the greenhouse where all the Pokemon were. After all, if they weren't out on adventures finding the things, they were spending every minute at home with the ones they already had, while she... she was by herself, with Yamper, reading a book or doing homework or something, just like always.

“Mr. Mime,” said Mimey, holding out a tray for her take. On it was two plates of snacks, one for her, the other for Yamper, both full of the stuff they loved. She took it, worrying that the Ketchum household knew far more about her than she realised. 

*******

Her hand became heavier as time moved on, until dragging it across the pages of her exercise book became too exerting. Outside, the sun descended closer to the tree tops, covering the main pathway to the lab's entrance in thick shadows. Soon, she would have to pop downstairs and remind her dad it was time to close up, since he and his assistant lost track of time when they were cooped up together. Apparently, out of all the computers they worked with, none of them had a functioning clock. 

Yamper stirred beside her on the sofa. It had nestled into her thigh and hip and was snoring lightly in time with the ticking of the wall clock. She prodded it on the back. “It's almost time to go, Yamper. Can you go wait by the front door for me?”

It stretched out its back with a groan and hopped off the sofa. She watched it obediently trot out of the room and gathered her things. _I should say bye to the boys before I go..._

The pair of them had been in the greenhouse all afternoon, doing who knows what. 

It was a short walk to the greenhouse. The modern dome structure stood tall and shone in the low afternoon sun. Her dad once told her it used to be even more splendid, but she wouldn't know; the thing had been built before she was even born. Its scale alone awed most visitors – and then they got inside and saw the absurd number of Pokemon residing within. That's when the real madness began. 

For her, though, it was just another building. One she had entered countless times before.

She found Go standing by himself atop an artificial hill overlooking the central area. He was leaning on the barricade and staring into the distance. She looked around for Ash, but he was no where to be seen. 

“Where's Ash?” she asked. 

Go glanced her way. “Training, I think.”

“You're not watching?”

“Nah. Watching Ash train can be fun, but sometimes they get... loud?”

As he said that, something exploded in the distance. Laughter followed, ensuring everyone nothing serious had happened. Just another Ash thing. 

_Don't ask_ , Chloe warned herself, eyeing the cloud of dust that had been kicked up by whatever Ash was doing. _You're better off not knowing._

Goh cleared his throat and looked her way. When their eyes met, he looked away and buried his hands in his pockets. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Are we... you know, still friends?” 

His question hit her so fast she had trouble coming up with a response. Goh asked again, this time managing to sustain eye contact. His brown eyes had an uncharacteristic seriousness to them, but a brittle kind that could shatter with just the slightest force. 

“Of course,” she said, as it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because until that moment, it was the most obvious thing in the world. She had no reason to think otherwise, since she and Goh had been friends since forever, and nothing had really changed...

Another explosion, followed by more laughter. 

“I was just thinking. We haven't hung out much lately, so I wondered if... if we were still cool, is all.”

Goh's tone was casual, but his gaze kept flittering from her, to something on the ground, then back to her again. 

“Don't worry. I still like you,” she said, not having to think about it. “We've been friends for how long now? I'm not about to ditch you all of a sudden.”

“Yeah... yeah, of course not.”

“As for hanging out... yeah, you might be right. We haven't done that together for a while. Maybe if you came to school again, we could...”

His eye twitched. “But school is so boring.”

“Yes yes, I've heard it all before. But Goh, you can't complain about us not hanging out enough and then skip school so you can---”

She felt herself growing more irritated with each word and forced herself to stop. She tried calming herself by looking out into the distance, where the grassy plains gave way to an artificial beach. She could just about make out Ash's form in the middle of a ring of his Pokemon as he gave them a lecture with wild hand gestures. None of his Pokemon looked like they had a clue when he was going on about, yet clung onto his every word. 

“So I can what?” Goh said, standing a little stiffer than before.

“Don't worry about it. Forget I said anything.”

He scrutinised her. “You know, even if I did go back to school, it wouldn't mean we'd start hanging out all the time.”

“What?” she said, the word slipping out like a guillotine that had just been dropped. 

“I'm just saying, there're a lot of other kids at school I could talk to.”

“Says the guy who couldn't even make friends on his own.”

His cheeks flushed red. “I-I totally can make friends on my own! Like Ash!”

“Who you hang out with all the time,” she pointed out. 

“What's wrong with that?” he said, shaking his head. “We have a tonne of fun together. We just... get each other, you know?”

“Not really,” she said, and the conversation died a sorry death. 

They hung around in silence. Goh returned to looking at anything but her. His hands were clenched tight in his pockets, a sure sign he was upset about something, though what, exactly, she couldn't be sure. She had just come to say bye for the day, but somehow ended up answering questions on the state of their friendship. What was that even all about? 

Whatever the problem was, she wasn't about to go home and leave such a heavy mood behind. She had to say something. For some reason, “sorry” came to mind, even though she wasn't sure what she would be apologising for. Maybe it was because Goh would never apologise to her first, and she had to be the mature one, so...

“Listen, Goh--”

Ash's voice screamed up the hill and drowned her out. “Hey guys!”

He ran up to join them, Pikachu at his heels. He arrived, skidding across the grass with a face brighter than any Flash attack, and belted: “Did you see us training earlier? So many attacks went boom, and-” He stopped mid-gush. Chloe and Goh were looking his way but not paying attention to a single thing he said. “Uh, everything okay?”

Chloe looked to Goh. Goh looked at Chloe. Then, they looked away from each other, like they had seen something they shouldn't have. 

“Everyone's okay, Ash,” Goh said finally, lips twitching into a half-smile. “We were just talking.”

Chloe bristled. _Talking? More like you were asking weird questions!_

She was about ready to reignite their argument, but she lost her fire at the sight of Goh's awkward smile and Ash's bug-eyed face. Somehow, she thought her argument would have gone through one ear and right out the other, and since Ash was there, Goh would have a reliable ally to back him up. He would have ran away, otherwise. 

Good thing for him that Ash always seemed to be there these days. 

“I'm going home,” she told them with a huff and stalked out of the greenhouse. Behind her, she heard Ash ask Goh if “it was something he said”, but she exited the building before she could hear his answer. No doubt Goh would make some comment or another, but she suddenly felt too tired to argue back anymore. 

Right, that had to be it. She was tired. All she needed was a good night's sleep and everything would be normal again by next morning.


	3. Listen to the Stupid Voices in Your Head

Chloe's cheek was squashed against a page of an open magazine on her desk. She stared vaguely in the direction of her bedroom window while Yamper's snoring signalled it was down for the night. She should be down for the night soon as well, once Stupid Goh and Stupid Ash and Stupid Goh AND Ash stopped invading her head. 

No, she wasn't sulking. She was stewing in her own irritation, letting it all flow out in uneven waves at nothing in particular. Waves powerful enough to repel even the most doting of family members. All because Goh and Ash were idiots who did idiotic things together... and because she was always at home while those stupid things were going on. She was doing normal things most normal kids did, watching other kids do not-so-normal things. Playing with Pokemon from far-flung regions, travelling around and seeing all kinds of sights, meeting all-kinds of weird people, and the like. Not for her.

It was cool they had their thing. As did her dad and his assistants. Everyone was so occupied all time and whenever anything happened, she'd say “Oh, okay, I guess that's happening right now” and then proceed to ignore it because, again, it just wasn't for her. 

So what was for her?

She had school and all the work that came with it. She always got the latest magazines on whatever subject she fancied, though always ended up with what was “in”, because when enough people at school talked about something it was always good to check it out, just to keep up. She had Yamper, too. She fed him, played with him, and took for him walks because only she could. Maybe none of that was exciting adventures or important research, but they were her choices all the same. 

She lifted her head off the desk and peeled a page of her magazine off her cheek. Her eye caught one of her mum's illustrations – a tiny pixie with puffy lavender hair and huge eyes. It somehow resembled her a lot, but was different enough for her mum to deny it actually was her if she ever brought it up. The Pixie Chloe spoke into a large white speech-bubble in a scratchy font straight out of a kid's notebook. She was advertising some event or another. Chloe was certain she'd never receive royalties for her likeness being used. 

Below that was another ad. This one was for a Pokemon battling event for kids under the age of 10. The one Ash got so excited about he tripped over thin air. It wasn't even for him! 

What a strange guy Ash was.

Come to think of it, everything changed when he turned up. 

He appeared out of nowhere, befriended Goh over a chance encounter with a Lugia, of all things, and landed himself a job as a research assistant, complete with board and free meals. In a single day, no less. 

Since then, he and Goh had gone all over place. Goh, the loner always chasing after Pokemon, was suddenly smiling every single day, in a way he never used to around her. 

“They do have a lot in common...” she muttered to the silent air of her bedroom, as if it could agree with her. She began flicking through the pages of the magazine for a distraction, but noting appealed to her. Her busy mind could only focus on the ins-and-outs of Goh's friendship with Ash. How despite their different goals and approaches, they fed off each other's enthusiasm for Pokemon. Enthusiasm she didn't have. 

Maybe that was why Goh was drifting away from her and spending all his time with Ash. Why hang out with her when she kept turning him down, while Ash kept saying yes?

She slapped the magazine shut and put her forehead on her desk. Blaming Ash didn't do her any good, but she wasn't prepared to admit she was too boring for Goh. They'd been friends for years, long before Ash even showed up, so there had to be something between them; some sort of unique connection formed when they were younger. That time at Professor Oak's lab came to mind, when they spent the day chasing after Mew, and Goh wouldn't shut-up about his plans to catch it one day. She hadn't been as inspired as he was, but it was still something only they shared. 

Now she thought about it, Goh stopped going to school not long after that day. He started roaming around the city instead, looking for the local Pokemon, chasing after myths and legends... and he had asked if she wanted to join him.

She had said no. Why? Probably something to do with school. It always seemed to come back to school. 

“Maybe I should be a teacher someday, since I love school so much,” she grumbled. 

Then, her bedroom exploded in light. It lasted for a blink before fading out and leaving a cavernous silence. _What the heck was that?_ She moved over to the window, moving silently, as if something evil was lurking outside. She could see the stars peeking out over the city's intense night-time lights. The night was clear without a single storm cloud in sight. 

There was a second flash, followed by a low rumbling. Not thunder and lightning, but something eerily similar. She gripped the window edges harder and looked in the direction she thought the sound had come from. It was Westwards, through the neighbourhood houses and towards the sea. _Is it coming from the harbour?_ It'd be concerning if it was. The harbour was a boisterous place during the day when people came and went on ships, but at night the whole thing shut-down, save for the dingy pubs built specifically for thirsty sailors. Loud noises weren't normal. I hope there hasn't been an accident...

Next to her on the bed, Yamper's ears twitched. It abruptly shot up, eyes wide open and alert. It scurried over and pushed itself in front of her before leaping out of the open window. Chloe gaped as it descended onto the wall surrounding the house and took off down the street. “Wait!” she cried out, but it was too late. Yamper was disappearing into the distance. 

“Just what is going on right now?” she cried to nobody in particular. Not that she had time to ponder her question. She had to follow it. Quickly. 

She searched around for a pair of shoes. Finding none, she weighed her options. Tear downstairs, take a pair by the front door and leave the house without anybody noticing, or go as she was, in her lounge wear and socks, through the window. She didn't know which one would be easier to explain to her parents. 

Another flash lit up the room. 

There was a tree by her window. Her little brother loved it, because the branches were low and easy to climb, so even a shrimp like him could feel tall. He once tried to prank her by climbing to the top and entering her room via the open window, but ended up stuck and needing to be rescued. If he could climb in to her room, then she could surely climb out. 

_"Yeah, go for it!"_ said a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Goh. Or was it Ash? Either way, somebody was encourage her and shooting adrenaline to every body part.

“Guess I'm having my own little adventure,” she said, hoisting herself up onto the window ledge. The tree was a simple hop away. There was still a leg-breaking drop between it and the window, but she had to ignore that. Breathing deep, she concentrated all her power into her legs and launched herself off the window ledge and onto the branch. It shook with her weight, and for a frightening moment she thought it would snap and she would go splat on the ground, but it held firm. She climbed down, slow and steady, until she reached the wall. She hopped down onto the road and exhaled, begging her heart to stop pounding. Above her, her bedroom light did an impressive job of pretending somebody was still in the room. 

Her parents were going to be _so_ mad at her.

She chastised herself. _Worry about that later. Find Yamper now._

Resolve set, she headed for the harbour.


	4. Surging Onwards

The residential street where Chloe lived was deserted. Apparently, the odd drunken sailor stumbled across it, but she had never seen one. She had never been allowed out late enough to get the opportunity. 

Fortunately, that made tracking Yamper much easier. She caught sight of its tail passing through the light of a street lamp before it disappeared around a corner. She followed and tasted salt on the air. A fresh breeze rolled and chilled her skin, reminding her short sleeves and socks were inappropriate night-time attire. 

The street broadened and burst open to reveal a vast strip of concrete hosting a colourful collection of shipping containers. A little further on, the sea threw itself against the harbour, moon shimmering on the surface. Chloe followed Yamper through the containers until it finally stopped and barked incessantly. She stopped beside it and panted as she caught her breath. “Geez, Yamper. What's wrong-”

A lightning bolt struck close by, erasing all sound and sight. When it returned, she was assaulted by Yamper's excited yelps. Squinting through the night, she spotted two figures, one much taller than the other, giving out commands with dramatic waves of their arms. 

“Another Thunderbolt, Raichu!”

“Thunderbolt as well, Pikachu!”

A burst of sound, followed by another flash – boy was she getting tired of those – and then an invisible force pushing her back. Her ears rang. The ruckus was surely loud enough to wake the entire neighbourhood. She might even be brought in as a witness. Little Girl Exposes Late-Night Pokemon Battle. School would be a riot once that headline got out. 

Everything calmed long enough for her senses to return to normal. She made out Ash's familiar red cap and blue jacket. Opposite him was a muscular man in a tank-top. Between them was Ash's Pikachu and a Raichu she assumed belonged to the man. The Raichu's cheeks sparked. It looked mighty pleased with itself.

“Not bad, not bad,” said the man in a gravelly voice. “You're definitely a lot stronger than you were the last time we battled.”

“You too,” Ash said brightly. “That was the strongest Thunderbolt I've ever seen!”

The man laughed. “You think that puny thing was the best we've got? Think again, kiddo.”

The sparks flying out of Raichu's cheeks turned even more frenetic. Its long tail stood up straight into the air, like an antenna waiting to catch a lightning strike.

“If you've got better, then I can't wait to see it,” said Ash, adjusting his cap. “Get in there with Quick Attack, Pikachu!”

Pikachu vanished from view and appeared again in front of Raichu, a second away from bodying it, but--

“Mega Punch!”

-a devastating punch to its cheek knocked him away. 

“Now Mega Kick!”

Raichu's leg snapped outwards and planted into Pikachu's stomach with enough force to send it up into to the air. Pikachu landed with a heavy thud and clutched at its midsection. 

The muscular man laughed. “What's wrong? Is this all the new champ of Alola can do?”

_Alola? Champ? Wait, is Pikachu okay?_ Pikachu pushed himself off the ground, little legs shaking. A triumphant “Pika pika” announced he was back in action and ready to thrown down once more. She breathed in relief. _Thank goodness..._

“I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though,” the man continued, his voice acidic. “From what I hear, the Alola League was some low class get-together which any scrub could enter. Winning something like that ain't gonna be worth much.”

Chloe still had zero idea what an “Alola League” even was, but the man's tone was so condescending she had to the urge to march over and slap him in the face. Then she would demand he apologise to Ash.... or so she imagined. In reality, the man was six feet of tightly packed muscle that could probably repel bullets. A slap would hurt her more than it would him. 

Below her, Yamper pulled its lips back to bare its canines. Sending Yamper after him was an idea, but there was a very mean looking Raichu in the way, and she wouldn't want Yamper getting hurt.

In any case, the man was a top class jerk. 

“You're as tough as ever, Surge.” Ash's gentle voice kicked the anger out from underneath her. Rather than be angry and annoyed like she'd be, he was grinning. “But you should know, the harder the opponent is, the harder we fight!”

“Pika!”

The man – Surge, Ash had called him – clicked his tongue and smiled slyly. “Kid went and grew up on me.”

Chloe remembered the cartoons and comics she used to read, where fighters would always declare their victory before performing their final attacks. Those final moments were always drawn out and deliberate, so she could keep up with the action. But reality did not resemble fiction at all. The battle's finale passed by in a blur of orange and yellow streaks, orchestrated by frantic instructions from Ash and Surge. Her eyes couldn't follow the action. Only the cries of Thunderbolt, Electro Web, Iron Tail, Mega Punch and Mega Kick told her what was happening. 

She saw Pikachu appear against the black sky, suspended several feet off the ground. 

“Time to finish this, Raichu!” 

Surge's grin resembled a Sharpedo's. His Raichu mimicked his expression, showing off a set of surprisingly sharp teeth – a sight which would no doubt appear in her nightmares. It waited, tail upright, for Pikachu to come back down.

Pikachu's arms and legs flailed as it sought desperately to transform into a Flying-type and defy gravity. Alas, such miracles were impossible.

Chloe clenched her eyes shut as Pikachu descended. In a few moments, the cute critter would be booted out of the sky and into a shipping container, or even the ocean. There was nothing anyone could do about it. 

But Ash hadn't given up. “This is our chance! Spin!”

She chanced another look. Pikachu tucked in his head, arms and legs and span around like a ball. The further he fell, the quicker the rotations became. 

“Now, Iron Tail!”

A rigid tail shot out of the ball and sliced through the air. It whipped Raichu around the head, forcing all its weight down. The pair of them crashed to the ground, dirt exploding all around them and lingering as a cloud. Chloe couldn't see either combatant. She clenched her fists, fingernail digging into palms, as she waited for the cloud to clear. If she was this tense, then she couldn't imagine what either Ash or Surge were feeling.

When the cloud finally cleared, Pikachu was standing over Raichu. The bigger Electric-type lied flat on its back, looking up at the sky. “Rai...” it sighed with resignation. 

Surge clicked his tongue and went over to examine the damage. “You still good?” 

His Raichu sat up, head drooping this way and that. There was no it could continue fighting. 

“It's our loss,” Surge announced. He gave Raichu a hearty slap on the back. “Come on, buddy, on your feet. You've taken harder hits before.”

“Rai...” was the drowsy response. Nonetheless, Raichu got back on two feet. Unsteady, but standing tall once again. 

Ash walked over and knelt down to rub Pikachu's head. “Nice work, Pikachu.”

Pikachu let out a contented “Cha!” and then flopped onto his backside. Ash chuckled and scooped him up like a proud dad congratulating his game-winning son.

Just like that, all the tension drained out of the area. Chloe collapsed against the shipping container, shoulder making a dull, metallic thump against the iron. She never knew Pokemon battles could be so intense. Sure, she had seen other kids at her school go at it, but their commands were not as quick or as precise, nor did their Pokemon strike each other with so much ferocity you could feel the impact standing yards away. Ash and Surge were on a completely different level of skill. Even her amateur eyes could tell that much.

She had no idea Ash – ever grinning, always blabbing about something, and always one stupid idea away from an accident involving electricity, fire, or both – was capable of such a thing. What did that jerk call him? Champion of Alola? You probably didn't become of champion of anything without some level of skill. Maybe she could ask him about it tomorrow. Tomorrow...

Her head snapped up. A dark sky, stars, a moon reflected in the water, an open window and an empty bedroom. _Well past her bed time._

“Crap. Come on, Yamper. We need to get out of here.” Yamper ignored her. “Hello, Yamper?”

Yamper's tail was wagging so fast it looked like it could fly off and smash a window at any second. It gave one excited bark after another. Chloe knew what that meant. “Oh no you don't!”

She made a desperate lunge for it, but she was too slow. Yamper slipped away and bounded into the harbour area, running past Ash's ankles, completing rings around Surge, zipping this way and that in a confusing flash of brown and yellow fur. She chased after it, until she was halted dead in her tracks by two pairs of eyes snapping in her direction. 

“Um, hi? I'm just here to pick up my Yamper...”

Surge, the man she considered slapping moments ago, grew three sizes up close. He pinned her to the spot with his accusing glare. Even when he turned to Ash, she dared not move. “Friend of yours, kid?”

Ash nodded. “What are you doing here, Chloe?”

Unlike surge, he had no suspicion in his tone. She explained seeing a bright light from her bedroom window and Yamper running out of the house. She left out the part where she jumped out her own bedroom window. Perhaps it was the presence of an adult, but she had the unshakeable feeling she'd be in trouble if she admitted it. “I chased him to the shipping containers over there, and then happened to see you both battling.” She bowed her head in apology. “I didn't mean to spy on you, or anything.”

“Nah, don't apologise. We weren't exactly being quiet.”

Surge scoffed. “No point being quiet with two Electric-types. Either go hard and wake the whole town, or don't bother fighting at all.” Ash's smile suggested he didn't quite get it, but wasn't about to question it. Chloe felt a nervous chuckle bubble up her throat, but it burst into a thousand droplets at the thought of Surge thinking she was making fun of him. “Anyway,” he said, rolling his neck until it clicked, “I'll leave you kids to it. Come on, Raichu. I need a drink.”

Raichu groaned with the enthusiasm of a designated drive about to witness its buddy drink himself into a stupor. 

Surge had one parting comment for Ash. “You'll be seeing me again, kid. Count on it. I gotta get my win back.”

“Sure thing! I'm staying in the lab these days. Just swing by for a battle any time.”

Chloe paled, because there was a good chance Ash wouldn't be there to answer the door when Surge came knocking, and she would have to entertain a grumpy guest out for revenge.

They watched Surge drag his Raichu towards a seedy tavern until they were out of sight. Chloe sighed and pinched the thin fabric of her shirt, suddenly hyper-aware of its weak defences against a chilly Vermilion night by the sea. All she wanted now was to go back home and curl up under her bed covers. If she could sneak back in without her parents noticing, that'd be great, too. 

“Hey. You hungry?” Ash said, smiling at her without a care in a world. “There's a doughnut stand near here. I've been smelling it this whole time and really want to check it out.”

Ash must have had the keen smell of a Growlithe, because all she could sense was pungent sea salt. She was about to turn him down – she really needed to get back home – but her stomach rumbled. It must have worked through dinner in record time after all the excitement.

“I take that as a yes.”

He smirked at her. She wanted to reach out and snatch it right off his face, then throw it straight into the ocean. He was offering her free food, though, so she supposed she could let him off the hook. For now.

***

Chloe waited by the harbour's edge with Yamper and Pikachu, sitting with her legs hanging towards the water while Ash went and got the doughnuts. The two Electric-types were salivating at the prospect of a sugary treat. She took the time to examine Pikachu and take note of all the scrapes and dirt patching his fur. If she had a cloth with her, she could have cleaned him up. 

Ash arrived with a paper bag dangling from his hand. He handed out his purchases, one doughnut for her and Yamper, and one for him and Pikachu, before taking a seat beside her. Yamper pawed at her thigh and panted with an expectant gaze, so she broke off a chunk and dropped it on the ground beside her. It gave a happy bark and feasted on it. She saw Ash hold his doughnut out for Pikachu to nibble and wrinkled her nose when he took a bite himself, utterly unconcerned about sharing food with a Pokemon. _Just how much to they trust each other? Would Yamper and I ever be like that?_ She imagined herself eating food out of Yamper's bowl and nearly gagged. _Do I even want us to be like that?_

“So, hey,” Ash said. “Did I annoy you earlier?”

She paused, thinking back to “earlier”. It seemed like ages ago. “Yeah, you did. It wasn't your fault though, so don't worry about it.”

“Really? That's good.” 

She waited for him to follow-up, but he was too occupied by his doughnut. They sat that way until the sounds of chewing got on her nerves. “Who was the scary guy from before?”

“Lt. Surge,” he said through a mouthful. He swallowed audibly. “He's the gym leader here. I thought you knew.”

“Well, I didn't,” she huffed. Now he mentioned it, she did recall Vermilion having a gym leader who once served in an army and had a reputation for scaring off challengers. It sounded like a school rumour started by some overzealous battle enthusiasts so she never gave it much attention, but apparently it was true all along. 

Ash smiled, the slightest of teeth poking through his lips. “Guess he's not as famous as thinks he is. Surge was the first really big challenge me and Pikachu faced, back when we were just starting out. Our first battle with him went so badly I didn't know what to do.”

He held up the remainder of his doughnut. Pikachu took it with his tiny paws and gnawed away.

She left the remainder of her own doughnut to Yamper. “What did you do, in the end?”

“I almost evolved Pikachu.”

He ducked his head, a little sheepish. She wasn't sure why. Even she knew evolved Pokemon tended to be stronger. She sensed there was a lot more to the story. “But Pikachu is still Pikachu.”

“He didn't want to evolve. He wanted to prove to Surge and Raichu he could beat them as he was. And that's exactly what he did.” He patted Pikachu on the head, right between the ears, where he liked it most. “I learned a lot from that. Things like: you shouldn't give up just because you've lost to someone tough. You can always try again, and keep trying, until you win.”

She made a noise somewhere between impressed and curious. Ash had a way of making the simplest ideas sound profound. Now she understood why he was so keen on battling as an experience, rather than a means to an end. 

He went on. “It's not just battling, either. I think it's the same with everything I do. I screw up a lot, but that doesn't mean it's the end. I can try again another time.”

He spoke into a strong breeze that rolled off the sea and chilled her arms. She pulled her legs closer to her chest and hugged them. She was finding herself rather invested in Ash's impromptu philosophy lesson. Somehow, his words struck closer to home than she would have liked. Maybe because she had seen Ash screw up numerous times, but always bounce back, ready to try again. She pegged him as the easygoing and forgiving type; someone who never got too down about anything, and was always looking ahead to the next thing. “Dense” and “ditzy” suited him, too, before he started giving surprisingly well-thought out advice. 

She felt rather dumb for making so many assumptions. _But it's okay to be dumb, every now and again. Just don't turn it into a habit._

Ash stood up, brushing crumbs and sugar crystals off his shorts. “I'll walk you home. Mum won't let me hear the end of it if I don't.”

“But your mum isn't even here.”

“She'll find out, somehow. Trust me.”

He was so serious she had no choice but to take him at his word. 

They walked back in comfortable silence, with Pikachu and Yamper leading the way, their ears twitching to the sounds of the city's nightlife. Ash carried a satisfied smile, presumably because he got to have a battle and eat food. Chloe thought about asking why he was out so late in the first place, but then decided she was too tired to care. She had more pressing concerns, like how she was going to return her bedroom unseen by her parents, and what she was going to do when she Goh tomorrow morning. 

She paused at that thought. In all the excitement, she had forgotten the whole problem was because of him and his bizarre questions earlier that day. Like a student who had realised at the last minute they had homework to do, she had to come up with an answer before morning.

“About Goh,” Ash said, startling her with his mind reading powers. A more likely scenario was her worry showing on her face. Her eyes tended to narrow and droop a little, making her look like she was about to fall asleep. So her mum told her, anyway. “Don't worry about him.”

She waited for him to elaborate, but he never did. The mischievous glint in his eye gave everything yet nothing away at the same time, if such a thing were possible. No matter how many times she poked and prodded him for an answer, he never told her what his plan was. She would have to wait until morning. 


	5. Completing the Circuit

Chloe had managed to sneak into her bedroom through the open window right when her mother poked her head around the door to check on her. One awkward conversation and several apologies later, she was let off the hook with a slap on the wrist and a warning to not be so reckless next time. “If there is a next time,” she stressed. 

She slept well that night, despite everything. Come morning, she was ready to face the day head on. Atop her list? Making up with Goh. Her determination powered her walk up the familiar path to her father's lab. Yamper trotted along faithfully beside her, panting in an even rhythm. Along the way, hundreds of little thoughts scratched away at her head – things like “What if this goes badly?” and “What if he really doesn't like me anymore?” - but they were all swatted away by the bigger thought simply called “today's plan”. 

It went like this: she would arrive at the lab like normal, drag his lazy butt out of bed, exchange apologies, and then ask if he wanted to grab a bite to eat, or something. Ash could come too, if he was still around. If Goh turned her down for whatever reason – and being honest, she could think of a few reasons right then – she would try again another time. And then again after that, if need be. If Goh no longer wanted to be her friend, then... well, she didn't know what she'd do. She hadn't thought that far ahead. All being well, things wouldn't get to that stage. 

There was one slight issue with her plan. She still had no idea what Ash was scheming. 

All he said was that he'd do something, but if he was distracted, like if a tournament was taking place in some far off land she hadn't even heard of, he'd be gone in no time. He'd probably take Goh with him, too, which would be a problem, to say the least. 

_I can never tell what he's going to do_ , she thought as the lab came into the view. When she approached the entrance, unease wormed its way into her gut. She passed them off as nerves ahead of “today's plan”, but then felt the muscles of her neck and back squirm under the gaze of something. Whatever it was, it was close by, waiting for her.

A starting pistol went off in her head. She leapt to the side, just as a streak of blue and red whizzed past and skid to a halt in front of Yamper. Blue jacket, shorts, red hat, and a set of teeth brighter than the sun – Ash Ketchum was unmistakable in all his stupid glory.

“Yamper!” he cried, pointing dramatically. He pulled an expression somewhere between an astonished Grimer and a panting Gastly. Apparently, he had been taking lessons from his Gengar. “Follow me!”

He took off into the trees, Yamper barking at his heels. Chloe barely had time to react before they were gone. _Should I go after them, or...?_ Ash was mad, but she could probably trust him with Yamper. He'd be back with it later, probably in tatters, but that would be entirely his own fault. 

She pressed on and entered the lab. She found Goh waiting in the kitchen, munching on a slice of toast while Mimey swept the floor. When he saw her, he smiled uneasily around a mouthful and swallowed. “H-hey, Chloe,” he choked out. “How's it going?”

Chloe sighed. “I'm not mad.”

“Great!” he squeaked, high enough to startle Mimey and earn himself a disapproving glare. “I mean, cool. I'm glad. I asked some weird questions yesterday since I was worried if we were still friends but realised I sounded like a jerk and--”

“Goh,” she cut in, holding back a laugh, “it's fine. Really.”

“Ah, um... yeah.”

His gaze dropped the table, maybe hoping he could smash his burning face into it. 

“What I wanted to say was, I thought about it last night and realised I was being stupid too, so...” She bowed her head ever so slightly, mostly so she could avoid looking him in the eyes. “I'm sorry.”

Goh blinked a few times and then began snickering. Chloe puffed out her cheeks and glared at him. “What? What's so funny?”

“N-nothing,” Goh struggled to get out between snickers. He put a hand over his mouth to stop the laughter, but his shoulders continued shaking. _Positive thoughts_ , Chloe reminded herself. _You're trying to be a good friend today_. Finally, Goh composed himself. “Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, but for some reason you bowing your head to me was super funny.”

“Oh yeah? Don't get used to it, you jerk.”

Goh smiled off her threat. Truthfully, her heart wasn't really in that one. 

“Anyway, you wanna go for a walk with me? I figure now we're friends again, we should go and so something together.”

The last time they went for a “walk”, they wound up lost in some woods. Despite Goh's many assurances he knew where he was going, he ended up on his haunches in tears by the end of it. Granted, that had been five years ago. “Where to?”

“Secret,” he said. “You just leave it all to me.”

He rose from the table, grabbed her hand and lead her out the lab before she had time to talk herself out of going. He took down the street, past the house with windows covered in shocking yellow and black in homage to the Electabuzz baseball team, past the pair of elderly ladies who always walked together at noon every day, and then through a zigzagging shortcut that spit them out onto a patch of dusty land once owned by an elderly man who dreamed of developing property on it (and whose whereabouts were unknown to Chloe after the project was abandoned). Where a new building could have stood was a set of swings, a slide, and a roundabout; the sight of many scuffed knee-caps and sand-filled socks. 

She recognised the journey as easily as she could recite the alphabet. She had trodden it for many years, until the indeterminable moment playing on the swings or going down the slide became too childish and she just stopped. Looking at them now, she got the strongest urge to sit herself in the rubber saddle again and let her shoes drag against the sand bed. There was something about parks that seemed to de-age people. 

Goh released her hand and seated himself on one of the saddles. He beckoned her to join him. When she did, she forgot how much she had grown since the last time and fell onto the seat. She had to grasp the chains just so she wouldn't fall butt-first onto the sand. Goh laughed at her again – a sound that travelled through time, straight from five years ago. She found it weirdly nostalgic, if not infuriating. 

“Welcome back to our base. It's just like we left it.”  
  
She ran a hand over the rusted chains diligently supporting her weight. “I don't remember it being so run down.”

“It's way cooler like that.” Goh kicked against the sand to rock his swing back and forth. The chains whined. “A secret place nobody ever goes to, except for two brave Pokemon hunters, planning their next capture...”

“We never actually caught anything, though.”

“That's because the Pokemon we wanted were super rare.”

“Were they? All I remember were Pidgey and Rattata.”

“Exactly. The rare Pokemon were too rare, so we were left with the common stuff.”

If he stepped off the swing at that moment, he would sink into the deep hole he had dug for himself. Goh was always like this. He couldn't help embellishing his stories, even the ones that were actually true. After they went to Professor Oak's lab for a camp and saw Mew, Goh spent so much time talking about all the other legendary Pokemon they had supposedly seen the other kids at school stopped believing him and started making fun of him instead. 

“I'll prove you all wrong!” he used to say before disappearing for the remainder of the day. Later on, he would turn up again with a hair full of twigs, a face caked in dirt and ripped clothes. If he ever found another rare Pokemon, it always seemed to have its way with him. She realised with a smile that not much had changed since then. Even after Ash's arrival, and the mountain of good fortune that seemed to follow him, he hadn't changed that much. 

“It's funny. Everyone thought I knew about Pokemon because of dad, but you never did. You acted like the know-it-all instead.” Her smile turned evil. “Do you remember? You used to say things like, 'since you know nothing about Pokemon, I'll teach you!' and then lecture me about all those Pidgey and Rattata we saw.”

“I never did that.” 

“You totally did! I even got a good grade in class thanks to you. Did I ever thank you for that?”

“I'm gonna say... probably not, knowing you? If you did, it was definitely something backhanded.”

Truth be told, she didn't actually remember either, but it did sound like something she'd do.

“I like that about you. The know it-all-thing, I mean,” she said. “How do I put it...? It's like, once something interests you, you have to know everything about it, and you end up concentrating on it so much you can't think about anything else. It's actually amazing.”

“Uh huh, whatever you say,” Goh dismissed her with a smile. 

They swung back and forth in a comfortable silence. A boat's horn came in on the breeze and spooked a flock of Pidgey out of the nearby trees. Goh watched them flap away thoughtfully and then hopped off his swing. “Let's go catch Pokemon together, like we used to!” he said, turning to her. 

If he had asked her that a few weeks ago, she would have turned him down and told him to go do his homework. Goh's capture attempts tended to involve a lot of effort, roaring, and crying, but precious few results. 

But now? He had a greenhouse bulging with new Pokemon he had captured on his adventures. And not just small fry, either. Whatever he was doing, it was clearly working. 

“Fine,” she decided. “I'll go with you this time. Whereabouts?” 

“You'll see,” he said, eyes twinkling. 

She sighed. What was with boys and keeping secrets from her?

*** * ***

  
Goh took Chloe to a wooded area nestled on the fringes of Vermilion's northern exit. Nearby was the road leading to Saffron City; the same one her dad had gone down when he took her and Goh to Professor Oak's camp. They had driven him mad with their boundless excitement and maddening tendency to bounce around in their seats, but he eventually had the last laugh when the pair of them fell asleep not even halfway through the journey. Neither of them realised just how far Pallet Town was. Standing there now, looking out at the endless green expense and tarmac stretching into the distance, she realised even Saffron was far away. 

Goh hummed a happy tune to himself as he trod through knee-high grass without a care for grass stains, nettles, or anything else hiding within. She follow behind him with more trepidation, wincing every time a blade of grass swiped her jeans. By the time they came back, they'd probably be dyed green and brown.

Just as she was fretting about getting the stains out later, her foot caught a thick root coiling across the ground. She stumbled forward and flailed her arms for balance. “What were we looking for again?” she asked through a sigh. 

“Anything that'll fill in the pages of my Pokedex. Look!”

He shoved his Rotom Phone in her face. Rows upon rows of Pokemon icons, numbered from one upwards, flooded the screen. Several of the icons lit up in full colour – the Pokemon Goh had caught, she assumed – but there were a fair few that were greyed out.

“Any one in particular?”

“Whatever we come across first,” was his helpful answer. He slid a finger over the phone's screen. “I really hope it's a Meowth, though. I've been looking for one ever since I saw Team Rocket's. I wanna teach it how to talk.”

“Teach it to what now?”  
  
“Ash says there's an Alolan version of Meowth, and I'm certain I heard the professor say there was a Galarian version, too. Having all three variants would be so cool.”

Goh babbled on about the merits of having three Meowth formes in his collection. She struggled to see the appeal, but his face was leaking so much joy she decided to roll with it. _As long as he's having a good time..._

As he went on, the object of his desire burst from the foliage, claws swiping at a fleeing Spearow. The Spearow hovered out of reach and made a show of its untouchable status, before descending enough to peck the Meowth on the head. It flew away with a triumphant squawk. 

Chloe pointed at the Meowth. “Goh, look!” He continued rambling, so she reached forward and tugged his shirt sleeve. “Goh!”

He stopped mid-ramble. “What?”

She pointed behind him. He turned around, his feet snapping twigs. The Meowth stared back at him with wide eyes. “Ah!” he burst out, before snapping his jaw shut. Too late. The Meowth fled, running deeper into the forest. “Get back here!”

He chased after it. Chloe held a hand out, “Wait!” on the tip of her tongue, but it died as he vanished into the trees. She took a deep breath, resigning herself to an afternoon of sore calves and frizzy hair after all the running around she was about to do thanks to Goh's impatience. The next moment, he returned, back-peddling, a sheepish grin on his face. 

“Sorry for taking off without you. You ready to go?”

“As ready as I'm gonna be.”

She trailed behind him as they hurried through the narrow gaps between trees, stepped over devious roots and ducked beneath sagging branches. She could see the tension in his back, and his shoulders rocking back and forth, propelling him forward. His head was bowed ever so slightly so he could keep track of the Meowth's movements. A tree branch brushed against his hair, inches away from striking his forehead. 

_He's not even looking where he's going_ , she thought, just as an even thicker tee trunk came into view. It stuck out a bulging limb as thick as Goh's head. He paid it no mind, head still bowed, eyes still on the retreating back of the Meowth. 

“Watch out!”

She hoped the panic in her voice would reach him. 

He glanced back at her over his shoulder, then looked forward again, just in time to see the tree branch swing towards his head. He screeched to a halt, arms wind-milling, until his weight shifted forward and his forehead came within inches of kissing the rough bark. He slapped it in indignation. “When did this thing get here?”

She pulled up beside him, panting for breath. “Probably from before we were born.”

“Where's Meowth?” He ducked down and peeked under the branch. “It's getting away!”

They lowered themselves under the branch. As soon as they were on the other side, Goh took off again. Chloe followed along, face scrunching up as the lactic acid took hold in her legs and turned every step into a bigger effort than it needed to be. Goh, she realised, was having no such troubles. His form was stable, and each of his steps were light. Whatever he had been doing with Ash, he was clearly no longer the boy who used to sit out of PE classes. _I'm kinda jealous..._

But while she was admiring his new physical prowess, she noticed he still wasn't looking where he was going. Her gaze dropped to the ground for an instant, just long enough to spot the sharp decline in the ground hiding in the grass. The one he was rocketing towards at record speeds, and would assuredly do a number on his ankles. 

She reached out and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. She yanked until he came to a hard stop. “Watch where you're going!” Goh stared at her, eyes bulging with impatience. She pointed out the decline to him. “I know you're excited, but don't get reckless, okay? I can't carry you home if you get hurt.” 

He let out an awkward laugh, unsure if she was joking or not. She cocked a brow, letting him know if he did go down with a twisted ankle because of his own stupidity, she would leave him there.

“I'll be careful,” he conceded. 

Satisfied her message had gotten through to him, they pressed on. They caught a glimpse of the Meowth escaping out of the wood and followed into a clearing basking in the noon sunshine. The Meowth faced them and hissed. _Stay away_. 

Goh wasn't intimidated. “I've got you now! Pokeball, go!”

He threw his Pokeball like a baseball pitcher. It was a good throw, too – flat, quick, and right on course to peg the Meowth on its lucky charm. Somebody had clearly been practising. But just as it seemed sure of striking, the Meowth swatted it out the sky with a disdainful flash of its paw. 

Goh clicked his tongue and tried again. No luck. He tried once more – still, no luck. He readied a fourth ball, sweat gathering on his brow. Chloe couldn't bare to watch any longer. 

“Isn't this the part where you battle it? It's obviously not going to let you capture it without a fight.”

He grumbled something about disliking battling and reluctantly reached for Raboot's Pokeball. Raboot appeared in a shower of light and sized up its opponent with a disinterest even the most moodiest of teenagers would be proud of. 

“I really, really need to get this one, Raboot! Double Kick!”  
  
Raboot responded with a dismissive flick of its head, but nonetheless followed Goh's orders. It sprung off the ground with its deceptively powerful legs and descended with both feet prime to strike. 

The Meowth didn't wait for it come down. Instead, it hopped to the side and, just as Raboot struck the ground, swiped with its claws. Raboot swayed backwards, but not quick enough to avoid a claw scraping its mid-drift. 

“Ember!”

Glaring, Raboot spat a handful of pebble-sized fireballs, but the Meowth was too quick, and once again moved aside. It returned with another swipe of its claws. Raboot turned its body to one side, allowing the Meowth to swipe at the air. It was exposed, vulnerable to any attack Raboot could throw at it... but the order never came. Goh was too busy muttering to himself with his hands on his head. “It's too fast. We can't hit it. What should I do? What would Ash do?”

“Wake up, Goh! It's going to attack again!” Chloe snapped at him. 

The Meowth's eyes gleamed. It opened its mouth wide and chomped down on Raboot's arm.

Goh looked at Chloe. “What do I do now?”

“Why are you asking me? I've only had one battle my whole life!” He bit his lower lip, eyes shimmering. “Fine, just... stop looking at me like that.”

She said that, but she wasn't exactly full of bright ideas. 

The Meowth was savvy. As a wild Pokemon, it clearly had its fair share of fights. Goh might not be the first trainer to attempt to catch it. It was fast and nimble, perfect qualities for evading attacks and Pokeballs, so how could they get it to stay still long enough for Raboot to land a hit? How could they stop it from dodging? Laying out the problem in her head failed to invite solutions. Her knowledge of battles was simply too low, and she had no real experience she could call on. 

She found herself thinking of Ash's battle with Surge the night before. It had mostly been screaming, bright lights and loud noises she couldn't make any sense of. Even after sleeping on it, she still didn't understand everything. But there was one moment that stood out to her: the grinning Lt. Surge, waiting to prey upon Pikachu as he fell from the sky. Why had he been so excited at that moment? 

_Because Pikachu can't fly. Duh. And since he couldn't fly, he couldn't control himself while falling through the air. He could only fall down._

“Goh! Tell Raboot to jump!”

He stared back at her with a frustrating mix of panic and confusion, but did as she suggested. 

Raboot stopped trying to wrench its arm free from Meowth's maw and hopped up and down on the spot. When it still couldn't shake the Meowth off, it surveyed its surrounding for anything that could help. 

It saw a tree with a sturdy trunk, just a few metres away. It struggled over, gritting its teeth as it pulled the Meowth along with it, fangs still piercing its skin. With a guttural roar, it put one foot up on the trunk and kicked off into the air with enough force to splinter the bark. The Meowth came up with it. 

They weren't very high up, yet it was enough for the Meowth to unclench its jaw and release Raboot's arm. 

“Now, Raboot!”

Raboot spat out more fiery pebbles. They pelted the Meowth all over its fur, splotching it a deep brown. 

Seeing his chance, Goh threw his Pokeball again. This time, it met its mark. 

The three of them didn't dare breath as the ball shook back and forth. Then, after what felt like the longest ten seconds in their entire lives, the ball stopped moving. Meowth had been caught. 

Goh picked the ball up, lips quivering in a failed effort to contain a gleeful smile. Chloe herself couldn't resist a smile as something akin to pride welled up inside her – like the pair of them had taken on a particularly challenging problem and overcame it together. The feeling was addicting. If Goh felt this way after every capture, it was little wonder he was always so eager to go out looking for new Pokemon to catch. 

“Wow, you guys! That was awesome!”

The voice exploded from the trees behind them. She shrieked. Loud, ear-piercing, undignified, but entirely justified. Goh screamed, too, though she wasn't sure if it was the same reason as her, or _because_ of her.

She whipped around, fire in her eyes, voice as sharp as any blade. “Ash, never do that again.”

Ash returned with his trademark blank look; the one he used when he was processing something, but that something got stuck somewhere between his ear and brain and was being diverted to the other ear and back out into the air again. Infuriating at the best of times, but even more so when viewed upside down. 

“Why are you hanging upside down from a tree, Ash?” Goh asked, already sounding like he wasn't going to like the answer. 

Yes, for some reason, Ash was hanging upside down, legs wrapped around a tree branch. Pikachu stood atop the branch, wearing Ash's hat. 

“I wanted to surprise you!”

 _That's it. He's done for._

Fortunately for Ash, whatever grisly end was in store him was postponed by happy barking. Yamper emerged from the shrubbery and tackled Chloe's ankles. “What are you doing here?”

“I took him for a walk,” Ash explained. He unwrapped his legs and fell to the ground head first. Just before he snapped his own neck, he flipped and landed on his feet. “I think we're friends now. Right, Yamper?”

Yamper growled in response. Chloe blinked, trying to work out what she should be more concerned about: Ash's surprising display of athleticism, of his newfound “friendship” with Yamper. Looking closer, Ash's hair was frizzier than normal, as if he'd been electrocuted once or twice or maybe a dozen times. It prickled her to the point of wanting to attack it with a hair brush, like she had done to her own so many times before. 

“So, did it all work out in the end?” Ash asked. 

Goh nodded. “Yeah, we're cool now.”

She looked at each of them in turn. “You guys planned all this?”

Goh laughed. “As if Ash could come up with something like this! I asked him to distract Yamper. The rest was all me.”

“No way! I was the one who told you about this place!”

“But it was my idea to catch a Pokemon together. Speaking of: check this out!”

Chloe put a hand to her forehead. Suddenly, all the noise was giving her a major headache. “Enough. I get it. You're both as dumb as one another.”

Ash pouted. “Hey, I thought really hard about this place. Look.”

He ran to the edge of the clearing. Goh and Chloe joined him. She gasped at the sprawling field and rolling hills unfurling underneath them. There were bright yellow patches of healthy crops and a road winding through them that seemed to go on for forever. On the horizon, she could make out the vague outlines of Saffron City's skyscrapers. Down there, beyond the walls of Vermilion, were surely endless amount of Pokemon. She could walk for just a single mile and see all types of species.

Even if she wasn't into the Pokemon themselves, the journey would be lovely. A blue sky with just enough cloud cover to block the harshest of the sun's rays, no cars blaring their horns while being stuck in traffic, no ships roaring as they pulled into harbour, and no classmates around to bug her about being the daughter of a professor. It was just a stone's throw away. 

“Cool, huh? You only get to see this kinda stuff while you're travelling,” said Ash. He had been all over the place, but still spoke with a nostalgic longing.

“That's why,” Goh said, nudging her arm, “you should come with us next time!”  
  
“I'll think about it.”

She was sure school would get in the way, and her parents would probably have a few choice words for her, and the thought of being out in the wild with a pair of dimwits mildly terrified her, but even still... the idea appealed to her. 

Ash could go and battle whoever he came across, Goh could try and catch whatever Pokemon he could find, and she could experience as much as she could until she was to decide what she really wanted to do. They'd have problems along the way, and she had no doubts whatsoever Ash and Goh would be cause of most them, but that would be okay. She could think of worse people to explore the world with.

* * *

Hey, JBouken here.

Firstly, a big thank you to those who read this. Even if you didn't make it to the end to see this note, thank you anyway. And thanks to those who gave Kudos and left comments. 

I wrote this story a couple of months ago as a one-shot. At the time, Goh still had Raboot, hence its appearance in this chapter. A lot has happened in Journeys since then that date parts of this story, but that's the quirky thing about writing about an ongoing series, isn't it?

Now clearly, this wasn't a one-shot. When I came back to it, I wanted to rewrite several parts, and in doing so it grew in size. Hence, I split the thing into five chapters. I'm sure you guys wouldn't want to read a 14,000 word one-shot. Fortunately, the story suited a multi-chapter format and turned out quite well. What do you think?

I believe the Journeys trio has big potential. I really do like Chloe as a character, because it's not often Pokemon has someone as down to earth as she is. Pokemon likes characters who are dreamers, go-getters, and all-round positive people, so Chloe's aloofness really stands out and makes her the perfect counter-weight to Ash and Goh and their particular blend of madness. At the same time, she can learn an awful lot from their experience and enthusiasm, and that's what this story was ultimately about. I wanted to explore the idea of Chloe being on the fringes of all the adventures, how that might poke at her insecurities, and how those insecurities could lead to conflict between her and Goh, while also maintaining an element of aloofness to her character. Jealously doesn't have to lead to desperation, after all. 

Also, Ash the Wise One is super fun to write. 

Once again, thank you for reading. See you again some other time. 


End file.
